Life on the Edge: Studying the Coastal Zone of the Late Palaeolithic

在上一次冰河时代末期，全球变暖导致曾经被人类占据的大片平原被淹没。这些现在被淹没的景观保存着20,000至10,000年前(旧石器时代晚期至中石器时代早期)期间(旧石器时代晚期至中石器时代早期)海岸定居和殖民的独特且基本上未被探索的记录，这几乎完全不存在于今天的陆地考古记录中。然而，正是这些目前尚未探索的领域记录了人类如何经历海平面和气候变化的挑战，以及最有可能预测到应对措施的证据，包括社会创新和适应。在这一时期，当代陆地景观将是边缘地区，不太可能包含人类在这些地区占领的真实多样性的记录。虽然英国最近的研究已经开始揭示北海下面被淹没的中石器时代的景观，但对之前的旧石器时代晚期景观的研究很少。因此，我们没有证据表明旧石器时代晚期北海近海地区有定居或就地活动，我们对居住在那里的社区的了解基本上是不存在的。为解决这一问题，“边缘生命”项目寻求提供有关被淹没的旧石器时代晚期考古资源的信息，方法是召集一个由未来领导者研究员领导的小组，开发新的方法和工具来记录和定位这一失踪的、被淹没的旧石器时代晚期考古。该项目寻求开发技术和模型，包括使用参数回声测深仪和自动水下航行器(AUV)，以提供旧石器时代晚期海岸线的开创性地图。这种先进的3D数据将代表着重大的一步变化，并将彻底改变可用于理解这些神秘景观的信息。该项目将检查三种不同的海洋环境，以确保技术的可靠性。这将导致旧石器时代晚期占领的模型的产生，这些模型将确定感兴趣的考古领域。这一点意义重大，因为这些数据将帮助政府和开发商确定对旧石器时代晚期保存最具潜在价值的海床区域。作为布拉德福德大学开拓性团队的一员，这位研究员在绘制类似的中石器时代水下景观方面拥有丰富的经验，因此他在解决这一问题方面处于独特的地位。他作为欧洲SPLASHCOS计划的早期职业研究员的参与和他的国际研究使他能够形成并领导一支多元化的国际团队，这需要研究这一领域。因此，毫不夸张地说，目前没有其他早期职业研究人员能够成功地领导绘制如此广泛的淹没的考古景观。重要的是，这一奖学金将为L提供一个跳板，使他成为水下史前研究领域的世界领先者。因此，这项为期5年的奖学金及其相关项目将是真正具有开创性的。它将实现许多重大的“第一”，包括在威尔士、比利时和克罗地亚对旧石器时代晚期海洋考古的首次探索。所有这些成果都将在科学理解方面取得重大进展。结果将具有全球重要性，该项目及其将开发的创新方法将提供极大地提高对世界各地被淹没的广袤史前景观的理解的潜力。

At the end of the Last Ice age, global warming led to the inundation of massive plains that were once occupied by human populations. These now submerged landscapes hold a unique and largely unexplored record of coastal settlement and colonisation during the period 20,000 to 10,000 years ago (The Late Palaeolithic to Early Mesolithic), which is almost entirely absent from the present day terrestrial archaeological record. Yet it is these, currently unexplored, areas record how humanity experienced the challenges of sea-level and climate change, and where the evidence for response, including societal innovation and adaptation, are most likely to be anticipated. The contemporary terrestrial landscape would have been marginal territories during this period, and less likely to contain a record of the true variety of human occupation in these regions. Whilst recent UK research has begun to reveal the inundated Mesolithic landscapes that lies beneath the North Sea, there has little research into the preceding Late Palaeolithic landscape. Consequently, we have no evidence for settlement or in situ activity from the offshore zone of the North Sea for the Late Palaeolithic, and our understanding of the communities who lived there is essentially non-existent. To address this situation the "Life on the Edge" project seeks to provide information on the submerged late Palaeolithic archaeological resource by bringing together a team lead by a Future Leader Fellow to develop new methods and tools to record and locate this missing, submerged Late Palaeolithic archaeology. The project seeks to develop techniques and models, including the use of Parametric Echo Sounders and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV's) to provide ground-breaking mapping of Late Palaeolithic coastlines. This advanced 3D data would represent a major step change and would revolutionise information available to understand these enigmatic landscapes. The project will examine three different marine environments to ensure the reliability of the techniques. This will lead to the generation of models of Late Palaeolithic occupation that will identify archaeological areas of interest. This is significant since such data will assist government and developers in identifying areas of the seabed have most potential value for Late Palaeolithic preservation. The Fellow is uniquely placed to resolve this issue given his extensive experience in mapping similar Mesolithic submerged landscapes as part of a pioneering team at Bradford University. His participation as an Early Career researcher in the European SPLASHCOS program and his international research has enabled him to form and lead a diverse international team which required to investigate this area. It is not hyperbole therefore to say that at the current time there is no other early career researcher who could successfully lead the mapping of such an extensive inundated archaeological landscape. Significantly, this Fellowship will provide a l springboard by which the Fellow can become a world leader in the field of Submerged Prehistory.This 5-year Fellowship and its associated project therefore will be truly ground-breaking. It will achieve many significant "first", including the First exploration for Late Palaeolithic Marine Archaeology in both Wales, Belgium and Croatia. All these achievements will provide significant advances in scientific understanding. The results will be of global importance, and the project and the innovative methods it will develop, offer the potential to vastly improve the understanding of the vast inundated prehistoric landscapes that are found around the world.